Inuk Silis Høegh has worked mainly as a film director and cinematographer, but began in 2000 to experiment with video, sculpture, and installation also. He holds a MFA in Film and TV Production from the University of Bristol, United Kingdom (1997) and is a member of Kimik – The Artists Association in Greenland and Assilissat – The Filmmakers’ Association in Greenland. [Tone Olaf Nielsen]
Inuk Silis Høegh participates with a new version of the project “Meelting Barricades.” The project was originally produced by Inuk Silis Høegh in collaboration with Danish artist Asmund Havsteen-Mikkelsen for the 25th Anniversary of the Greenlandic Home Rule Government on June 21, 2004. Høegh states about the project: “We wanted to make a Greenlandic army – an absurdity given the country’s size and population. Taking our point of departure in the rhetorics of the military, we posed the question: What values does Greenland wish to preserve and contribute with within a globalized world? Once Greenland becomes independent, the country should not uncritically become part of globalization’s tendency to homogeneity, nor should it withdraw in national self-sufficiency. Cultural barricades will melt, and new ones will arise. The question is how this transition should take place – and how Greenland will find its own two feet to stand on.
Our project was many-sided and began with a performance in downtown Nuuk, May 2004. Dressed as two Greenlandic generals, we marched with drums and soldiers down the main street and encouraged everyone to join Greenland’s Defense Forces. The next part of the project consisted of founding the Greenlandic Command Post at the Usk Ukalisuaq School in June. As part of the discussion of Greenlandic values, we had arranged a drawing competition for all Greenlandic children entitled ‘What do you like about your country?’ These drawings, as well as propaganda films, invasions plans, and possible attack scenarios, became part of the final exhibition.
In August 2004, we launched the second part of the project: a Greenlandic invasion of Denmark. The position of the colonial power was turned upside down in that Greenland was presented as the superior cultural and military power. The invasion was initiated in the culture house, The North Atlantic House, in Copenhagen. During the opening, we staged a victory parade in an armored vehicle in the streets of Copenhagen. Inside the exhibition, which was built as a military camp, we held a speech announcing the proportions of the occupation and the future plans for Greenland’s Defense Forces. Furthermore, audiences were presented with the strategy used to occupy the Danish Parliament, a specially designed torture chamber, an overview of military resources, and the army’s plans for increasing the Greenlandic population.” [Inuk Silis Høegh]
For Act 1, “Melting Barricades” was recreated in a new installation made specifically for Rethinking Nordic Colonialism. Using posters, video, flyers, stickers, registration forms, and military objects, the installation functioned as a recruitment center for recruiting soldiers from among the visitors to join Greenland’s Defense Forces and their impending conquering of the world. Through its militarist discourse, “Melting Barricades” became an absurd detournement of the Danish government’s present control of Greenland’s military and foreign affairs and a discussion of the country’s transition into an always already globalized future autonomy. [Kuratorisk Aktion]
An exhibition handout written by Khaled Ramadan can be downloaded here.
The installation’s Registration Form can be downloaded here.
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